This was highly requested! We also have the be quiet! Pure Loop in for testing. The tear-down of the Galahad is done and will go live once it's edited, so probably the next few days. Learn about our CPU cooler testing methodology here: ua-cam.com/video/fmTOJP4KOyk/v-deo.html Watch our previous cooler review - EK AIO 360 vs Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360: ua-cam.com/video/KPLWlkHPlyo/v-deo.html You can find the written methodology article here: www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3561-cpu-cooler-testing-methodology-most-tests-are-flawed
Steve, please consider reviewing Enermax Liqmax III 360. They have stopped producing Liqmax I and II coolers because of your reviews and claim Liqmax III is better.
Thank you so much! I already bought it but I'm happy to see the review for my new system build Edit: Would love to see a teardown of it someday :) Second edit: Also in my system build I never heard the pump whine other than first time startup.
@@Manwoker it shouldnt, electromagnetic induction needs changing magnetic field to work, but for other hand CPU transistors are soo smal and clock times arre so hight that cant tell for sure, it is out of my specialization,... it should fe fine thoo, also electric motor in pump also have magnetic parts and it is not concern for users
@@Manwoker following on from the smart peeps above me, the magnet is also weak as so I doubt its field would have any kind of strength at that distance from the cpu.
@@user-pv6bb7km7u I watch both, and honestly, they both helped me a lot. GN for benchmarks and detailed in-depth research and Linus for “dumbed down” explanations and general basics.
@@Pixel_FX i mean even gn have sponsors his channel is a living for him and others and i don't mind his sponsors it's a short clip at the beginning very simple i sometimes don't bother skiping it since it's so short and i find his content really entertaining and informative.
"Lian Li could greatly improve its Intel mounting process by using threads on the socket side to hold the screws captive. That said, given Intel's current positioning, Lian Li's got a little bit of time to figure out that improvement before there's... a wide demand for it." Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark! 😂
also, i just want to say i hope you do get around to the nr200 review. (if time permits) would love to see you tackle an sff case and see optimal cooling layouts!
Think it might have been reddit where I saw a post about how the NR200 is modular enough that with minor metalwork (drill, file), you can flip the top and bottom rails and move the radiator to the top with plenty of clearance. Basically drill some rivets, file a bit of metal to let it slot in, and away you go. Might be considered "extreme" by someone who just wants to buy a case and put a radiator in it.
You should check out the channel Machines & More. He has many videos covering the NR200 and very in depth benchmarking on cooler setups within the case. I just built an nr200 and followed his advice and it went great.
The pressure mapping seems like very interesting data, especially with the significant difference in mounting methods, glad to see it carried over from the GPUs. I don't know how feasible it would be, but an interesting video idea might be trying to demonstrate how the difference in pressure / coverage actually impacts the effectiveness of the unit. Like getting one 'perfect' cold plate and replacing it on the same cooler with a less-even one to measure the difference. The gaps are filled by the thermal paste as you say, but it could be interesting to see how much of a difference in performance it makes.
I believe Linus has a video where they test this by lapping the CPU on a plate to make it more even. Though I'm not sure if they lapped the cooler. It seemed to make some difference but the equipment and skill you need plus the time investment were quite high for relatively small benefit
The pump for my Lian Li Galahad 360 failed less than a year in. From what I've gathered, it seems like a known issue among the community. The pump whining seems like the start of the issue, then failure. Beware of this one.
I've been using mine for 2 years at max RPM without any problem, but the LEDs of my fans started to die after a few months and get stuck with one color
my gift has ARRIVED! it's in a paper envelope like package and it has a message written on the cardboard inside of the shipped item :) pick it up on monday
@@wishbone8275 is it a GPU or processor they can't get? lol either way, if we're seeing it in a future video that means that you're definitely contributing to the GN content and I thank you for that!
I’ve used 3 Galahad aios in different builds and have not encountered any pump whine. Only good quiet performance. Thanks for all the hard work on the reviews!
Hey Steve. That seems like a lot of effort and work hours to cover a cooler. I'm just curious but does this pay off financially to do it or is it a net loss for gamers nexus bottom line?
Depends. This one in particular will probably be break even or maybe a little negative. It gets fuzzy/hard to tell when factoring in things like Patreon, which isn't for any specific video. We're also willing to run loss leaders now and then as a bridge to higher hitting content. For example, we're working toward a CPU cooler round-up, and we want this in there. That'll help offset any loss from this one. Great question!
@@PatsliTV a youtuber at a school here made a playlist of all his videos, and every day befor leaving school, he started that playlist on as many computers as he could, to loop all night. UA-cam now asks "Are you still watching" after a while...
Honestly @GN is one of my absolute favorite channels to watch and learn from. You really seem to care for the Industry, end-users and everything in between. Kudos for your humbleness, thorough approach to things and awesome transparency. (I would still choose the ALF II in 280 config, best price/performance ratio, atleast where I live)
Finished my build over the weekend which includes the 240mm Galahad (V2 IIRC). No idea about other sockets, but on my Intel 1700 board, installation was a breeze. Mount 1700 backplate (it is labelled as such), then install four screws through the board and into the backplate. These have a thread at the bottom to go into the backplate and another thread up top to take the thumbscrews that will secure/tighten down the pump to the board. Slip pump's four mounting brackets over the fours screws/studs, then secure the pump with four thumbscrews. Done. Back to my example: It's now mounted in probably the worst position due to the thickness of my MSI Z690 Tomahawk's top VRM heatsink (matter of milimeters, but it just wouldn't fit up top). It sits in the front of a bequiet Pure Base 600 Window, its fans sucking in fresh air through the rad. Two 140 Pure Wings 2 serve as top exhausts and a 120 Pure Wings 2 as a rear exhaust. And yet: Doing various benchmarks and stresstests, the CPU (i5 12600k, stock) hasn't gotten any warmer than 68 or 69° on any of its cores or on the package. Overall, I'd say this thing is doing a fine job ... and it looks pretty damn amazing with those RGBs in the CPU block. Plus even the sub-optimal rad placement doesn't seem to affect other temps too badly. Sys-Temp is a bit high (42°C at idle, 45-ish at load), the M.2 is pretty toasty (~55). The GPU (1060 3GB Aero ITX with only a single fan that likes to switch off under no or light load) sits in the low 50s at idle and never exceeded 69°C overall and 76°C for the "hotspot"-value under load.
Yeah, I used to have Mugen 5 as well. Compared to a Noctua to which I upgraded, its shortcomings are basically a worse mounting mechanism, finicky fan clips and a few degrees Celsius. But it also is like two thirds the price!
I come across this a lot. I wonder whether it is a regional thing or not. But Scythe has been pretty dominant in recommendations by people for many, many years over here in the Netherlands. Have had several of their coolers myself and never let down for me.
The flatness chart could in my opinion have the coolers' median value as the zero point - it doesn't really matter if it's 5 micrometres or 20 micrometers from your calibrated zero point, as long as it's consistent. Would make the visualisation easier to grasp. Thanks for the informative review as always!
Would love to see a Castle 360 EX review by you guys, it seems to be one of the most popular AIOs in the last few years if we go by Amazon & Newegg reviews and it would be cool to know how it stacks up against the competition.
I help a lot of first time builders in the PC World discord, and the fact that Lian Li supplies any wiring instructions at all, is a 100% improvement over many makers of RGB components. Usually they have to upload photos of the harness and connectors, so we can sort it out for them.
Hey GN, I spoke Via Email with the sales manager Eric at Lian Li regarding the AMD mounting solution expressing the exact concerns that came out in your findings in August. He told me "Our engineer had tested with AM4. We are 100% sure it will have full contact the CPU surface, and performance had also been tested. There shouldn’t be any issue with it." to which I replied "Since most PC DIY'ers/enthusiasts go AMD and with Intel losing ground, It would probably be better for parts suppliers such as Lian Li to cater more to Ryzen users in the future. Maybe Give the Proper Mounting hardware to those who will be buying most of the product. I do not see many S.I.'s buying Galahads for Pre-builts." Mine has no audible pump whine and I am happy with the performance though Using a generous amount of Thermal Grizzly, but to think it could be even better? I will forward the Video link hopefully they will make a 4 point mount available. I hope they send you some updated samples minus the Pump whine. A real shame it skewed the results. Thanks
I bought a galahad 360 back in october. I pre-ordered a 5800x on nov. 5th and it's supposed to get here tuesday. I already have the aio mounted (vertically unfortunately) and as much as this video made me worry, I'm still excited to have a functioning pc soon. Also thanks GN for the extra vids :)
Same here, I love the Lian Li and EK one too but can't get my hands on a Ryzen 5000 cpu. I did get lucky with a Nvidia 3060ti tho, performance is great.
@@doctorthee I decided that i needed a better graphics card than my 1050ti to go in this new build so I just met up with a guy off facebook marketplace and bought a 1080 for $310. I hope it doesnt bottleneck the cpu too hard lmao
Thank you GN. Of course I like the quick; heres temps on these runs vs these AIOs, but I'm a nerd, these numbers and in-depth charts are something my brain loves. So again, thank you for the 1000s of hours you all have put into these comparisons.
Not going to lie. I went with Galahad 360 because it was pretty much the best looking cooler back in August which did not have any coolant leaks or pump problems associated with them. Did not expect it to come close, let alone exceed any of the veterans on the market. This is definitely a nice surprise and Lian Li earned it with the high quality their products have and relatively low prices.
Two years since this video and your comment and it’s still one of the sexiest Coolers on the market. No Shame in buying this thing as the performance is apparently excellent. 👍
@@ricey3952 It’s surprisingly good! It’s not as hardcore as the Artic Freezer II but most coolers aren’t. It’s allot prettier than the boring black Artic Freezer II AIO’s. I would recommend it for everything but extreme overclocking if you love the design. Lian LI is one of the greatest PC case companies of all time. It’s great to c them offering more.
Cool to see this review, I just installed one last weekend. You're completely right about the way the pump has to be installed. The way Lian Li wanted me to do it was infuriatingly difficult. I eventually figured out the "correct" way to do it (the way done in the video), and it was really easy. I've never installed a an AIO before, but I worked with custom hardware a lot. I would imagine a less technical personal would lose their mine. I will say in regards to pump whine, i can't hear my pump at all, I was afraid it wasn't on initially but it's working on my bios. So it might be the early models they sent you have an issue. Thanks for the review, you've got a new sub!
Best thing about following GN is that they post videos at the most flawless time, the time where all I wanna do is watch a youtube video and hang out because I'm avoiding sleeping for some reason... oh and also the extreme integrity + thoroughness... and steve's humour
For some the lack of RGB on the Liquid Freezer 2 could be a selling point, a large portion of the community seems to enjoy it but not everyone. I personally bought the Freezer 2 partly due to it lacking RGB, I just don't want it, and anything I buy that has RGB built in gets turned off if at all possible. I think it's fairly reasonable to say RGB tax is a thing, and I don't particularly like the idea of being forced to pay for a feature like RGB just due to the maker wanting to including it in everything. There will be added cost to any product which includes it, I view that as a negative personally. I personally turn off the Geforce logo on my graphics card as well, I don't enjoy it, and I'm currently looking to replace the card as it's 6 years old, and can't keep up with my high refresh rate monitor anymore. Lack of RGB isn't a mandatory requirement in my next card but ideally I would prefer to buy a card without it. I don't enjoy the flashiness of RGB, never have, I will be happy once the fad has cooled down a bit more in the future. Nothing against folks who like it, many do, and I know I'm a minority in this opinion but I'm ok with that.
Its better for you then. Function over form has always been the wiser take. I find the LF2 fairly unsightly, RGB or not, but again we're back to talking about looks. GL finding a proper replacement for your GPU: the market, both new and used, is a dumpster fire right now.
The cost of components for RGB is negligible, and I doubt the design cost or added R&D cost is even worth mentioning. TL;DR this is corporate capitalism and the C-levels have to feel like they're scamming the consumer somehow. Personally, I'd rather they feel like they've justified their salary/existence by overcharging for a few lights on components than by overcharging for anything that affects the lights on the screen. I never look inside my case anyways unless it's to check upgrade room, diagnose an issue, or figure out the exact point that the 0db "feature" kicks in and disables my fans, even though I made a custom fan curve that _intentionally_ has the fans running at least a little at all times. Protip: The magic PWM number for the Taichi 5700XT is 102 (40% speed). 101 or lower is simply ignored.
Although I doubt it does anything to the price, I'm torn inbetween no RGB at all, or if unavoidable, lets go all in on RGB, you can always disconnect it or turn it off (sometimes you need a plier to cut it off)
Love your reviews, Thanks again for being thorough, I went with the Lian li AIO 240 primary because I bought the lian li lancool 2 mesh based on your complete review on cases and the functionality of the case. By the way, I filled in the gap at the bottom of the case on the front panel, because of that awesome review you did. As for the whine on the lian li 240 AIO, I have mine connected to the pump header on the motherboard and personally have not experienced any noticeable whine even with the door open on the case. Keep up the great work.
I did order the white Galahad 360 before I watched this video...you guys made me anxious for a second until I watched the conclusion. Now I feel better and more confident lol
Great job! Would love to see a review of the deepcool castle aio. It would be interesting to see the analysis on its performance and anti leak technology
VRM cooling for AIOs is no joke. I had a top-mounted Corsair H100i in my Phanteks case, and no matter how aggressively I ramped the fans, the VRM temps on my Z370 (overclocked 8700K) were exceeding 90C and causing throttling. I eventually settled on aggressive undervolts and an AVX offset to get it under control*. Fast forward a couple years and the AIO died on me. I replaced it with a Noctua NH-U12S, and the VRMs immediately dropped to ~50C under load. Granted, my board is infamous for inadequate VRM cooling (a Gigabyte Aorus Z370, since discontinued), but it was very hard to get decent airflow into the dead spots of the case where the VRMs were jammed with the AIO. If I were to get another AIO, I'd definitely be giving the Arctic kit a look. *EDIT: and by "under control", it would start in the 60s and slowly creep up to the high 80s under protracted load as the power output soaked the heat dissipating capacity of the heatsinks.
Your reviews have to result in a direct reduction in E-waste. Gives the consumer an unbiased review on new and interesting products so they know exactly what they are getting. Basically a “buy once” review. Thank you and keep it up.
As far as Flash when talking of the Artic model, some of us may like that, no LED just black. To quote Nigel Tufnel when looking at it "it's so black, how much more black could this be? The answer is none. None more black."
Surprised you haven’t reviewed the MSI AIO. I’d have thought it would be an interesting test case considering the pump is in the radiator rather than on or just offset to the CPU interface. I’d be interested to see an in depth , data driven (in typical GN fashion) comparison to more conventional AIOs in terms of performance and your take on mounting considerations.
Glad I preorder it! Been very hard to find since release. Fits perfectly in the top on my 011 Dynamic. I decided to move the tubing from hanging on the right side, overlapping the ram slots, and moved them to the left side. This allowed full view of the ram (rgb) and essentially perfectly hides the tubing from view. Temps on my i9900k oced to 5.0ghz @ 1.325v idles at 31-33°c. The most taxing game, BFV, runs at 65°c but most other games are 55-60. AIO is fantastic!
When doing the surface map pressure testing shouldn't you have also tried it with the intel 4x screw installation just to see how different the pressure was compared to the 2x screw installation on the am4. Love the content!
You would not be able to compare the results. Or at least not really. Because the IHS of Intel CPUs has a different shape as AMD's has: not just the 2D shape but also the 3D shape. When my knowledge is still accurate one has a slightly convex and the other an more concave shape.
To those watching this a year later. It seems a lot of people are reporting the pumps dying on the black 360 mine just died yesterday at 13 months old. (O11d top mount exhaust.)
It's amazing that the Lian Li was able to outperform Artic despite the design issue on the 2 point mounting surface. Even Lian Li's 240 outperforms 360 Artic. I almost can't believe what I'm witnessing. Lian Li 360 is less expensive in my nation than Artic 360. Thank you for reviewing this AIO cooler GN !!
Finally some new air coolers to review in the near future. I feel like the focus is usually on liquid air coolers. I own a Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition for my Ryzen 5 3600 so I'm always open to potential cooling upgrades.
Probably gets less attention because the air cooler market is largely locked down with very little to improve. New models are often refresh updates and/or aesthetic changes. The liquid AIO market is less saturated and we're clearly seeing performance gains from newcomers. Also, liquid coolers are better.
The level of detail covered in this review was extremely helpful, especially as I was looking into this for a family members build. The quality of this video review is extraordinary, as always! Thanks Gamers Nexus 🤘
Thanks for the review Steve and gang. Just got the White Galahad 360 installed in my new build last week so the info on noise normalized helps a ton. Case is a Phanteks p500a White. CPU is the 5800x. CPU is sitting at 31c idle and 75c running AIDA64 for 1 hour srt8. Set the Lian li Uni Fans to 900 rpm on the rad and the phanteks PWM case fans to 875 rpm. System is cool and quiet. Thanks for all the hard work and reviews this year. Really helped me build something beautiful by my own hand.
I’ve had this for the last few months and this pretty much agrees with my experience. Like you pointed out, the Intel mount left something to be desired but thankfully I thought to mount it before installing the motherboard in the case. Overall, I’ve been happy with it and like that I don’t have to have branding staring me in the face whenever I go to game.
Well they just plug in, everyone who ever has owned Lego can do it ^^ Havin to find out which cable you should use at which time for what just to turn on or off 3 sets of LEDs (RGB) is a bit weird..
@Ben T. As long as you have an option of not paying extra for something useless at a given price and performance level. Unlike a couple of years ago, when choosing a decent case was a challenge, as 99% of them were all about glass & rgb (and no airflow), not performance & cost-effectiveness. Companies making a ton of subpar cheap crap BUT WITH RGB marketed for gamer who obviously has no clue about the hardware and charging ridiculous money for it and making this (milking) an industry trend surely did stigmatized RGB and its users.
Well darn. I’ve been dreaming of a lancool 215 build and wanting to stick with as many Lian Li parts as possible… But I guess now I know better. I certainly don’t want to have to tinker with power and fan settings, but I don’t want that whine either. So, thank you!
Really Appreciate the Awesome and Thorough Review! One thing that would have be Awesome to add, is after seeing the Pressure Map of the 2 Point mounting system on the AMD CPU's, It would have been Awesome to see the difference on how the Pressure map of a Intel CPU would have differed and how much of a difference there is from 2 point to 4 point :) Keep up the Awesome Content!
I actually appreciate the installation demo. I installed the Galahad 360 aio a week ago on my first PC build ever. I only had the included tube for paste so I attempted multiple dry runs (never fully tightened or anything, just enough to get it loosely secured) to find the easiest method before ending up at your version. (I have an x570 motherboard so did an am4 installation).
Just bought one the 240 model of the galahad and decided to watch this. Had a miniature panic attack when I realized I had removed the plastic brackets to mount my current cooler. Hopped off this video and went scrambling to see if I had saved them. Sure enough I had put them in my mobo box... Now you have read about my epic journey. There were thrills, dangers, tears and triumph! Now go... tell of the great journey of Galahad 240!!!
I have this AIO and had no problems with coil or pump whine. But if you have this and your temps are showing crazy spikes/dips check the mount/bracket - the spring loaded screws for the bracket are sort of not great, the edge of the spring can catch on the metal below, it won't go and the whole coldplate mounts crooked, it's a big pain. I know this is not a new cooler but I only learned this after messing with this thing for months because it's subtle and hard to notice, especially if you're new to this stuff like me
Why don't you make a custom mounting bracket to utilize the 4 points on the AM4 motherboard and see if it makes a difference performance wise versus the 2 point? Make a few and test several AIO's. Would make a really cool video because I'm curious using the h100i myself.
my favorite part of paying more for the lian li cooler is where they spared no expense screwing the aluminum trim straight through the face to the sides of the radiator... and that extra cheap mounting... really gives it that polished look... /s
I got the Galahad close to launch and while performance-wise I'm very happy with it, it has two aesthetic quirks that really annoy me: 1. The stickers on the fans aren't quite centred, so they appear to wiggle when the fan is spinning, especially at slower speeds. 2. The RGB LEDS don't quite match the Lian Li case fans I have for colour, especially in the blue range. If I set my case for all one colour, my Lian Li case fans even match my Asus mobo, but the Galahad fans are slightly off. I don't get pump whine as an issue on my version BTW. The whole AIO is quite loud but I ran the fan optimizer that came with my mobo and it runs much more efficiently now.
I'm curious of how the Arctic Freezer II 240 does compared to its big brothers. I can't fit anything bigger than 240 atm, so I'm really interested in knowing how much worse/different the 240 is from the 280.
Ooh, I hope one of the Scythe ones is the Fuma 2. I've been hoping to see you test that one. Thanks for putting in all this extra time with the Great Silicon Deluge of 2020!
Thankfully I had zero issues with my unit. Magnetic cap was present all the screws and no whine like described here. Definitely a QC thing. Mines pretty cherry!
Really? Even at 100% pump speed? I've seen a number of people on reddit post the same issue. I bet you it's a pretty bad QC thing. Either way, I get mine sometime this week. I will test it for myself. I personally find high pitched noises very annoying, and I will not keep the cooler if the pump overpowers the fans.
@ Personally I have had no issues with my Galahad unit. No whine at all. I have mounted to the top of my case with the motherboard below it for reference though. I personally think it's a beautiful unit. That being said, like GN said, most AIOs of the same size bracket perform more or less the same and what sets them the most apart are the fans they come with. If your planning on using whatever fans you want like myself then I would suggest getting the one you think suites your RGB/Aesthetics needs as it will likely perform more or less the same as other models of similar sizes. Recommendation: Pick the size radiator you need (240mm or 360mm) and pick the one you think looks best. Typically with radiators bigger = better, just make sure you install it correctly in its optimal position.
Liquid freezer II 360 was just €90 and a steal. I tried to buy the Galahad 360 black for €145 though since they look so nice, but could not be shipped (I was told after 7 weeks of waiting...), now I got it for €167. More than I liked to spend, but god it looks SO good!
I have the Deepcool Castle EX in 280mm. It is equipped with the 'Intel' mounting for AMD, as well. I like this cooler. I previously had the Fractal, which has the 'cheaper' AMD mounting method.
RGB was only going to bump up my budget, plus it wasn't really needed for my upgrade..I read ur review and got the liquid freezer ii. Just waiting for the case to complete the build. Thanks for taking ur time doing these reviews!!!
Was going to comment the same. The relatively blackout, clean cable management aesthetic lends itself to my preferences and fits in most theming styles.
I ended up buying this AIO after seeing this review for it and I've been using it now for about 6+ months and am very happy with it. I actually haven't experienced any pump whine that I can tell and that is with the pump speed maxed out. I run my fans around 1400 rpm and yeah it is noisy but that's something I don't mind and don't usually hear it while gaming. All in all for its price to performance I'd say its worth it if your looking based on that, plus the white aesthetic matches my case and components.
Holy shit. You guys made installing this cooler look like a cake walk. I struggled soooo much between installing it on my 3600, and again (albeit slightly less so) when swapping in my 5600X. I wish this review had come out 2 months ago.
Steve: "the metal cap isn't very useful, except for de branding the cooler" so it's useful for the exact thing it was designed to be useful for?? No freaking way I'm shocked. Lol
I grabbed a 360 shortly after they were released, as my NZXT Kraken died not long before. It was a pain to install (Intel), but it is performing really well, i honestly can't say I ever noticed any pump whine though. The fans run around 780rpm most of the time, so they're not contributing much noise, while the pump hovers around 3350rpm, I genuinely can't hear anything unless i stop the fans altogether.
I would love to see GN do a review of the MSI AIO's! Having the pump in the radiator is quite different from almost every other AIO on the market so it would be interesting to see if it alters performance or noise levels at all.
Here in Canada, the EK AIOs are essentially non-existent, so the battle comes down to the Galahad vs. Liquid Freezer II family. The Liquid Freezer II 280 is perpetually out of stock (@ $169.99 CAD, or upwards of $240+ on Amazon), and the 240 costs $159.99 at the one retailer that actually has stock - exactly the same price as the Galahad 240, while on Amazon, the Liquid Freezer II 240 is actually $169.99, meaning the "budget/value" option actually costs MORE. The Liquid Freezer II 360 is listed at $189.99, $10 cheaper than the Galahad 360's $199.99 at retail, but again, the LFII is only available through that one retailer, and when stock shows up on Amazon, you can expect to pay well over $200. I'd actually wanted to pick up a Liquid Freezer II, but the pricing up here and the fact that its thicker-than-standard radiator mean its case compatibility may be "iffy" kind of put the brakes on that purchase... You've mentioned that you will have the be quiet! Pure Loop series reviewed in the future, and it seems like an interesting contender for Canadian buyers, since the 240/280/360 are priced rather fairly at $119.99, $134.99, and $154.99, respectively, and are actually widely in stock at one major retailer (www.canadacomputers.com/search/results_details.php?language=en&keywords=be+quiet%21+pure+loop). It's also one of the first AIOs I've heard of to explicitly advertise having a refilling port and an included bottle of coolant, so as long as the usable lifetime of the pump actually exceeds other brands' expected rate of failure due to coolant permeation, it could be one of the longer-lived AIOs on the market. It's also rather thin, at only 52 mm for the combined rad + fans, vs. 63 mm for Liquid Freezer II models using 120 mm fans, or 65mm for those using 140s, meaning it should have noticeably better case compatibility, especially clearance of the 8 pin EPS cables and their cutouts. Edited to add: yes, the Galahad also has a coolant refilling port, and I'm sure it's probably fine to just top it up with a bit of distilled water down the road, but having manufacturer-supplied coolant mix for top-ups can still add some points in the "peace of mind" category.
Last longer and risk free too. I mean air is more then enough. AIO is 100% overkill. Adds risk of failing and in worst case damaging your pc. Never worth it in my opinion.
@@BeatstormX I didnt even talk about money once in my comment. I said overkill because air is enough to overclock and not thermal throttle. Thats the goal of a cpu cooler. AIO are not needed.
Steve said they did most of this testing in august and they didn't go on sale until August 21st or so. Maybe they were early production units? You would figure if you are sending a product to GN you would test it before shipping. That's just stupid not to. Mine doesn't have pump whine and I hate the AM4 mounting solution. I do like the performance overall and the way it looks.
@@SuperHundog I was not aware. I have only bought one, the 011D and there is no problem but that is a relatively High end case. I'll have to take your word for it.
@@stephanhart9941 I also have an 011, Galahad 360 and x9 Uni Fans. 0 issues with QC. In fact, for the price brackets these products sit in, I think they're nothing short of exceptional.
@@Kira-qc4qi Yeah if you can get UniFans @MSRP they are great. I see the set of 3 being scalped for $150 or more. I had a bad experience with an etailer Rhodes electronics. Ordered 3 sets of WHITE Uni Fans with controllers. They sent 3 individual BLACK fans and took my $300. Thank God for PayPal. I had to dispute it and took a month to get refunded. A couple of emails and no phone service then they blew me off. I got 3 free black fans tho. So now I have 12. 6 on the Galahad in push pull 3 at the bottom and 3 at the top. The 3 black ones aren't visible just the rgb through the side vents. I side mounted it didn't like the top mount with push pull. No noise at all.
I installed the 240 Galahad in my new 3080/10900k build last month, and I wish this video had been out then to explain the wiring diagram. I think I spent a solid 45 minutes looking at that diagram trying to match everything.
The best way I find to explain decibels in terms of it not being linear, is every 10 dB is double perceived loudness (for humans). By the way, I’m a Hearing Specialist. ;)
This was highly requested! We also have the be quiet! Pure Loop in for testing. The tear-down of the Galahad is done and will go live once it's edited, so probably the next few days.
Learn about our CPU cooler testing methodology here: ua-cam.com/video/fmTOJP4KOyk/v-deo.html
Watch our previous cooler review - EK AIO 360 vs Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360: ua-cam.com/video/KPLWlkHPlyo/v-deo.html
You can find the written methodology article here: www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3561-cpu-cooler-testing-methodology-most-tests-are-flawed
Steve, please consider reviewing Enermax Liqmax III 360.
They have stopped producing Liqmax I and II coolers because of your reviews and claim Liqmax III is better.
Do you use Herbal Essence?
Thank you so much! I already bought it but I'm happy to see the review for my new system build
Edit: Would love to see a teardown of it someday :)
Second edit: Also in my system build I never heard the pump whine other than first time startup.
Deepcool Castle 360EX. Why has that not been tested yet? It's one of the most popular AIO's and apparently one of the top performers.
@@sexyyoda7567 It's trash. They apparently fixed the issues and they just returned again. I'd stay away from that brand.
the cap looks very nice actually appreciate the option to de brand the system
Yeah I quite like the look of the full aluminium finish instead of the black and white logo
Is it possible the magnet would affect the CPU? I feel a little uncomfortable with having a magnet that close to the processor itself.
@@Manwoker it shouldnt, electromagnetic induction needs changing magnetic field to work, but for other hand CPU transistors are soo smal and clock times arre so hight that cant tell for sure, it is out of my specialization,... it should fe fine thoo, also electric motor in pump also have magnetic parts and it is not concern for users
@@Manwoker the pump motor works by magnetic induction to be water tight which means it has magnets so the magnetic cap should not affect the cpu
@@Manwoker following on from the smart peeps above me, the magnet is also weak as so I doubt its field would have any kind of strength at that distance from the cpu.
All hell yeah, i love me some late night gn aio reviews
Ya they are sleep inducing.
Jk. Thanks for the vid.
More like early morning here in the UK! Great way to start the day
Oh boy its 3am
lmao me at 4 am
are you in the states its 10am in blighty
love the pressure mapping very helpful
On that note, I think that mounting mechanism is absolutely fine - imagine where the CPU die is, the pressure over that area is very consistent.
Looks like the processors IHS are not flat. And it is not the fault of AIO.
@@babenkoff That will become clearer with more coolers.
@@myownsite yeah that’s what I was thinking, the pressure should be good in the spots where there is silicon directly under given the orientation.
Thanks for putting in the overtime guys!
GN getting that GPU time off finally 😂
30xx super and another ti's are coming!
6900XT: "You called?"
I really like how detailed you get with your reviews! Makes our lives easier when we go to build our rigs. Thanks a bunch!
Linus: Insane 5.000$ Tech upgrade!!!
GN: Hold my 8.000$ pressure testing setup.
Linus is more like "The Show", and GN is more like "The Research"
@@user-pv6bb7km7u watching both of them really helped me getting into pc gaming and building legends over all
@@user-pv6bb7km7u I watch both, and honestly, they both helped me a lot. GN for benchmarks and detailed in-depth research and Linus for “dumbed down” explanations and general basics.
Don't even compare linus with GN. Linus channel is a advertising company nothing else.
@@Pixel_FX i mean even gn have sponsors his channel is a living for him and others and i don't mind his sponsors it's a short clip at the beginning very simple i sometimes don't bother skiping it since it's so short and i find his content really entertaining and informative.
"Lian Li could greatly improve its Intel mounting process by using threads on the socket side to hold the screws captive. That said, given Intel's current positioning, Lian Li's got a little bit of time to figure out that improvement before there's... a wide demand for it."
Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark! 😂
I know it's a nice way of saying that it took them years to get their aio out and still sucks, fix your mounting
@@Gatz22 Is this AIO compatible with my mainboard X570 AORUS MASTER with the Ryzen 9 5900X????
@@94Radon yes
Well, there was about 11 months.
@@Gatz22 the joke was no one wants Intel. You're welcome
also, i just want to say i hope you do get around to the nr200 review. (if time permits) would love to see you tackle an sff case and see optimal cooling layouts!
Hope we can get to it!
Optimum Tech is pretty thorough on this topic and is well aware of Gamers Nexus' video on AIO orientation ;)
Think it might have been reddit where I saw a post about how the NR200 is modular enough that with minor metalwork (drill, file), you can flip the top and bottom rails and move the radiator to the top with plenty of clearance. Basically drill some rivets, file a bit of metal to let it slot in, and away you go. Might be considered "extreme" by someone who just wants to buy a case and put a radiator in it.
I just built in one with a 5900X and EKWB 240, great case and the AIO keeps it cool
You should check out the channel Machines & More. He has many videos covering the NR200 and very in depth benchmarking on cooler setups within the case. I just built an nr200 and followed his advice and it went great.
The pressure mapping seems like very interesting data, especially with the significant difference in mounting methods, glad to see it carried over from the GPUs. I don't know how feasible it would be, but an interesting video idea might be trying to demonstrate how the difference in pressure / coverage actually impacts the effectiveness of the unit. Like getting one 'perfect' cold plate and replacing it on the same cooler with a less-even one to measure the difference. The gaps are filled by the thermal paste as you say, but it could be interesting to see how much of a difference in performance it makes.
I believe Linus has a video where they test this by lapping the CPU on a plate to make it more even. Though I'm not sure if they lapped the cooler. It seemed to make some difference but the equipment and skill you need plus the time investment were quite high for relatively small benefit
I just gotta say, I really appreciate the depth of your methodology and reviews, across all products. You guys do such a great job.
The pump for my Lian Li Galahad 360 failed less than a year in. From what I've gathered, it seems like a known issue among the community. The pump whining seems like the start of the issue, then failure. Beware of this one.
I've been using mine for 2 years at max RPM without any problem, but the LEDs of my fans started to die after a few months and get stuck with one color
my gift has ARRIVED! it's in a paper envelope like package and it has a message written on the cardboard inside of the shipped item :) pick it up on monday
Will do!
Gift?
@@TheCatpirate it will be revealed in next video
@@wishbone8275 a future video*
@@wishbone8275 is it a GPU or processor they can't get? lol
either way, if we're seeing it in a future video that means that you're definitely contributing to the GN content and I thank you for that!
I’ve used 3 Galahad aios in different builds and have not encountered any pump whine. Only good quiet performance. Thanks for all the hard work on the reviews!
Hey Steve. That seems like a lot of effort and work hours to cover a cooler. I'm just curious but does this pay off financially to do it or is it a net loss for gamers nexus bottom line?
Depends. This one in particular will probably be break even or maybe a little negative. It gets fuzzy/hard to tell when factoring in things like Patreon, which isn't for any specific video. We're also willing to run loss leaders now and then as a bridge to higher hitting content. For example, we're working toward a CPU cooler round-up, and we want this in there. That'll help offset any loss from this one. Great question!
@@GamersNexus Thank you for the very detailled and honest answer.
@@GamersNexus Its great getting insights in the tech journalism business. Thanks for sharing.
@@GamersNexus I’ll make sure to watch it as many times as I can lmao
@@PatsliTV a youtuber at a school here made a playlist of all his videos, and every day befor leaving school, he started that playlist on as many computers as he could, to loop all night.
UA-cam now asks "Are you still watching" after a while...
I am just astonished by the amount and quality of content on GN lately! Love it:-) Best tech channel by a lot:)
Honestly @GN is one of my absolute favorite channels to watch and learn from. You really seem to care for the Industry, end-users and everything in between. Kudos for your humbleness, thorough approach to things and awesome transparency. (I would still choose the ALF II in 280 config, best price/performance ratio, atleast where I live)
Finished my build over the weekend which includes the 240mm Galahad (V2 IIRC). No idea about other sockets, but on my Intel 1700 board, installation was a breeze. Mount 1700 backplate (it is labelled as such), then install four screws through the board and into the backplate. These have a thread at the bottom to go into the backplate and another thread up top to take the thumbscrews that will secure/tighten down the pump to the board. Slip pump's four mounting brackets over the fours screws/studs, then secure the pump with four thumbscrews. Done.
Back to my example: It's now mounted in probably the worst position due to the thickness of my MSI Z690 Tomahawk's top VRM heatsink (matter of milimeters, but it just wouldn't fit up top). It sits in the front of a bequiet Pure Base 600 Window, its fans sucking in fresh air through the rad. Two 140 Pure Wings 2 serve as top exhausts and a 120 Pure Wings 2 as a rear exhaust. And yet: Doing various benchmarks and stresstests, the CPU (i5 12600k, stock) hasn't gotten any warmer than 68 or 69° on any of its cores or on the package. Overall, I'd say this thing is doing a fine job ... and it looks pretty damn amazing with those RGBs in the CPU block. Plus even the sub-optimal rad placement doesn't seem to affect other temps too badly. Sys-Temp is a bit high (42°C at idle, 45-ish at load), the M.2 is pretty toasty (~55). The GPU (1060 3GB Aero ITX with only a single fan that likes to switch off under no or light load) sits in the low 50s at idle and never exceeded 69°C overall and 76°C for the "hotspot"-value under load.
Would love to see a review of some of the Scythe coolers. Super underrated and have excellent price point.
Rocking Mugen 5 cold af and silent
Yeah, I used to have Mugen 5 as well. Compared to a Noctua to which I upgraded, its shortcomings are basically a worse mounting mechanism, finicky fan clips and a few degrees Celsius. But it also is like two thirds the price!
I come across this a lot. I wonder whether it is a regional thing or not. But Scythe has been pretty dominant in recommendations by people for many, many years over here in the Netherlands. Have had several of their coolers myself and never let down for me.
The flatness chart could in my opinion have the coolers' median value as the zero point - it doesn't really matter if it's 5 micrometres or 20 micrometers from your calibrated zero point, as long as it's consistent.
Would make the visualisation easier to grasp. Thanks for the informative review as always!
Would love to see a Castle 360 EX review by you guys, it seems to be one of the most popular AIOs in the last few years if we go by Amazon & Newegg reviews and it would be cool to know how it stacks up against the competition.
I help a lot of first time builders in the PC World discord, and the fact that Lian Li supplies any wiring instructions at all, is a 100% improvement over many makers of RGB components. Usually they have to upload photos of the harness and connectors, so we can sort it out for them.
Would love to see the DeepCool Castle 360 tested!
Same. That would be great.
Hey GN, I spoke Via Email with the sales manager Eric at Lian Li regarding the AMD mounting solution expressing the exact concerns that came out in your findings in August. He told me "Our engineer had tested with AM4. We are 100% sure it will have full contact the CPU surface, and performance had also been tested. There shouldn’t be any issue with it." to which I replied "Since most PC DIY'ers/enthusiasts go AMD and with Intel losing ground, It would probably be better for parts suppliers such as Lian Li to cater more to Ryzen users in the future. Maybe Give the Proper Mounting hardware to those who will be buying most of the product. I do not see many S.I.'s buying Galahads for Pre-builts." Mine has no audible pump whine and I am happy with the performance though Using a generous amount of Thermal Grizzly, but to think it could be even better? I will forward the Video link hopefully they will make a 4 point mount available. I hope they send you some updated samples minus the Pump whine. A real shame it skewed the results. Thanks
Been looking forward to this one for a while! Was hoping to hold out before I got my Ryzen 5000 CPU but I couldn't :(
What'd you end up buying?
I bought a galahad 360 back in october. I pre-ordered a 5800x on nov. 5th and it's supposed to get here tuesday. I already have the aio mounted (vertically unfortunately) and as much as this video made me worry, I'm still excited to have a functioning pc soon. Also thanks GN for the extra vids :)
Same here, I love the Lian Li and EK one too but can't get my hands on a Ryzen 5000 cpu. I did get lucky with a Nvidia 3060ti tho, performance is great.
@@doctorthee I decided that i needed a better graphics card than my 1050ti to go in this new build so I just met up with a guy off facebook marketplace and bought a 1080 for $310. I hope it doesnt bottleneck the cpu too hard lmao
Thank you GN. Of course I like the quick; heres temps on these runs vs these AIOs, but I'm a nerd, these numbers and in-depth charts are something my brain loves. So again, thank you for the 1000s of hours you all have put into these comparisons.
I love when Steve rips into marketing lingo. Makes me feel like I'm not the only one who hates it lol.
Same here. Especially when they slap the word "gaming" onto everything. Gaming this gaming that, grinds my gears
Not going to lie. I went with Galahad 360 because it was pretty much the best looking cooler back in August which did not have any coolant leaks or pump problems associated with them. Did not expect it to come close, let alone exceed any of the veterans on the market. This is definitely a nice surprise and Lian Li earned it with the high quality their products have and relatively low prices.
Two years since this video and your comment and it’s still one of the sexiest Coolers on the market.
No Shame in buying this thing as the performance is apparently excellent. 👍
@@ryanjofre hows to performance for it?
@@ricey3952 It’s surprisingly good! It’s not as hardcore as the Artic Freezer II but most coolers aren’t. It’s allot prettier than the boring black Artic Freezer II AIO’s.
I would recommend it for everything but extreme overclocking if you love the design.
Lian LI is one of the greatest PC case companies of all time. It’s great to c them offering more.
@@ryanjofre u think its enough for the 13600k?
@@ricey3952 The 360…..absolutely. I’m 43 years old. I’ve been doing this since the 90’s!
Cool to see this review, I just installed one last weekend. You're completely right about the way the pump has to be installed. The way Lian Li wanted me to do it was infuriatingly difficult. I eventually figured out the "correct" way to do it (the way done in the video), and it was really easy. I've never installed a an AIO before, but I worked with custom hardware a lot. I would imagine a less technical personal would lose their mine. I will say in regards to pump whine, i can't hear my pump at all, I was afraid it wasn't on initially but it's working on my bios. So it might be the early models they sent you have an issue. Thanks for the review, you've got a new sub!
Best thing about following GN is that they post videos at the most flawless time, the time where all I wanna do is watch a youtube video and hang out because I'm avoiding sleeping for some reason... oh and also the extreme integrity + thoroughness... and steve's humour
Me: I got to go to sleep
GN: *no you dont*
You rack diciprine, QwQ-san.
😳👉👈 ...
Hai, hai.
For some the lack of RGB on the Liquid Freezer 2 could be a selling point, a large portion of the community seems to enjoy it but not everyone. I personally bought the Freezer 2 partly due to it lacking RGB, I just don't want it, and anything I buy that has RGB built in gets turned off if at all possible.
I think it's fairly reasonable to say RGB tax is a thing, and I don't particularly like the idea of being forced to pay for a feature like RGB just due to the maker wanting to including it in everything. There will be added cost to any product which includes it, I view that as a negative personally.
I personally turn off the Geforce logo on my graphics card as well, I don't enjoy it, and I'm currently looking to replace the card as it's 6 years old, and can't keep up with my high refresh rate monitor anymore. Lack of RGB isn't a mandatory requirement in my next card but ideally I would prefer to buy a card without it. I don't enjoy the flashiness of RGB, never have, I will be happy once the fad has cooled down a bit more in the future.
Nothing against folks who like it, many do, and I know I'm a minority in this opinion but I'm ok with that.
Its better for you then. Function over form has always been the wiser take. I find the LF2 fairly unsightly, RGB or not, but again we're back to talking about looks. GL finding a proper replacement for your GPU: the market, both new and used, is a dumpster fire right now.
The cost of components for RGB is negligible, and I doubt the design cost or added R&D cost is even worth mentioning. TL;DR this is corporate capitalism and the C-levels have to feel like they're scamming the consumer somehow.
Personally, I'd rather they feel like they've justified their salary/existence by overcharging for a few lights on components than by overcharging for anything that affects the lights on the screen. I never look inside my case anyways unless it's to check upgrade room, diagnose an issue, or figure out the exact point that the 0db "feature" kicks in and disables my fans, even though I made a custom fan curve that _intentionally_ has the fans running at least a little at all times.
Protip: The magic PWM number for the Taichi 5700XT is 102 (40% speed). 101 or lower is simply ignored.
Although I doubt it does anything to the price, I'm torn inbetween no RGB at all, or if unavoidable, lets go all in on RGB, you can always disconnect it or turn it off (sometimes you need a plier to cut it off)
Love your reviews, Thanks again for being thorough, I went with the Lian li AIO 240 primary because I bought the lian li lancool 2 mesh based on your complete review on cases and the functionality of the case. By the way, I filled in the gap at the bottom of the case on the front panel, because of that awesome review you did.
As for the whine on the lian li 240 AIO, I have mine connected to the pump header on the motherboard and personally have not experienced any noticeable whine even with the door open on the case.
Keep up the great work.
I love how accurately you can predict the performance numbers from the expression on Steve's face in the thumbnail xD
I did order the white Galahad 360 before I watched this video...you guys made me anxious for a second until I watched the conclusion. Now I feel better and more confident lol
Great job! Would love to see a review of the deepcool castle aio. It would be interesting to see the analysis on its performance and anti leak technology
Yeah id love to see a deepcool aio analisis! Either that or a Cl500 case review!
Agree, that cooler is extremely popular and seems to be pretty well reviewed by almost everyone so i would love a GN review for it.
VRM cooling for AIOs is no joke.
I had a top-mounted Corsair H100i in my Phanteks case, and no matter how aggressively I ramped the fans, the VRM temps on my Z370 (overclocked 8700K) were exceeding 90C and causing throttling. I eventually settled on aggressive undervolts and an AVX offset to get it under control*.
Fast forward a couple years and the AIO died on me. I replaced it with a Noctua NH-U12S, and the VRMs immediately dropped to ~50C under load. Granted, my board is infamous for inadequate VRM cooling (a Gigabyte Aorus Z370, since discontinued), but it was very hard to get decent airflow into the dead spots of the case where the VRMs were jammed with the AIO. If I were to get another AIO, I'd definitely be giving the Arctic kit a look.
*EDIT: and by "under control", it would start in the 60s and slowly creep up to the high 80s under protracted load as the power output soaked the heat dissipating capacity of the heatsinks.
Your reviews have to result in a direct reduction in E-waste. Gives the consumer an unbiased review on new and interesting products so they know exactly what they are getting. Basically a “buy once” review.
Thank you and keep it up.
As far as Flash when talking of the Artic model, some of us may like that, no LED just black. To quote Nigel Tufnel when looking at it "it's so black, how much more black could this be? The answer is none. None more black."
I totally get that, but I still find it manages to be quite ugly, even in all black.
Surprised you haven’t reviewed the MSI AIO. I’d have thought it would be an interesting test case considering the pump is in the radiator rather than on or just offset to the CPU interface. I’d be interested to see an in depth , data driven (in typical GN fashion) comparison to more conventional AIOs in terms of performance and your take on mounting considerations.
Glad I preorder it! Been very hard to find since release. Fits perfectly in the top on my 011 Dynamic. I decided to move the tubing from hanging on the right side, overlapping the ram slots, and moved them to the left side. This allowed full view of the ram (rgb) and essentially perfectly hides the tubing from view. Temps on my i9900k oced to 5.0ghz @ 1.325v idles at 31-33°c. The most taxing game, BFV, runs at 65°c but most other games are 55-60. AIO is fantastic!
What's your experience with it now?
Test the Deepcool Castle 360ex please?!
Just picked up a 280 Arctic Liquid II for£50 . Great coolers I be passing my 240 down to my bro
When doing the surface map pressure testing shouldn't you have also tried it with the intel 4x screw installation just to see how different the pressure was compared to the 2x screw installation on the am4. Love the content!
Was thinking the same thing. I have it on Intel but obviously don't have the cool equipment to test it out like this
You would not be able to compare the results. Or at least not really. Because the IHS of Intel CPUs has a different shape as AMD's has: not just the 2D shape but also the 3D shape. When my knowledge is still accurate one has a slightly convex and the other an more concave shape.
@TheAverageTechie I returned mine because of the pump whine. Was very annoying
To those watching this a year later. It seems a lot of people are reporting the pumps dying on the black 360 mine just died yesterday at 13 months old. (O11d top mount exhaust.)
It's amazing that the Lian Li was able to outperform Artic despite the design issue on the 2 point mounting surface. Even Lian Li's 240 outperforms 360 Artic. I almost can't believe what I'm witnessing. Lian Li 360 is less expensive in my nation than Artic 360. Thank you for reviewing this AIO cooler GN !!
In my country Lian Li 360 costs 190€ and the artic only 90€, with ARGB 110€
Finally some new air coolers to review in the near future. I feel like the focus is usually on liquid air coolers. I own a Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition for my Ryzen 5 3600 so I'm always open to potential cooling upgrades.
Probably gets less attention because the air cooler market is largely locked down with very little to improve. New models are often refresh updates and/or aesthetic changes. The liquid AIO market is less saturated and we're clearly seeing performance gains from newcomers.
Also, liquid coolers are better.
The level of detail covered in this review was extremely helpful, especially as I was looking into this for a family members build. The quality of this video review is extraordinary, as always! Thanks Gamers Nexus 🤘
Thanks for the review Steve and gang. Just got the White Galahad 360 installed in my new build last week so the info on noise normalized helps a ton. Case is a Phanteks p500a White. CPU is the 5800x. CPU is sitting at 31c idle and 75c running AIDA64 for 1 hour srt8. Set the Lian li Uni Fans to 900 rpm on the rad and the phanteks PWM case fans to 875 rpm. System is cool and quiet. Thanks for all the hard work and reviews this year. Really helped me build something beautiful by my own hand.
I’ve had this for the last few months and this pretty much agrees with my experience. Like you pointed out, the Intel mount left something to be desired but thankfully I thought to mount it before installing the motherboard in the case. Overall, I’ve been happy with it and like that I don’t have to have branding staring me in the face whenever I go to game.
hi how can i know if this can fit in my pc like compatible
check the manual of your case. @@ONI-AE
Just finished my buddies overkill build with the galahad 360mm and it's beastly. Cabling sucks, but it is very gorgeous and extremely well built.
Rgb gone too far? Steve would love lian li's rgb psu cables 😂
Well they just plug in, everyone who ever has owned Lego can do it ^^
Havin to find out which cable you should use at which time for what just to turn on or off 3 sets of LEDs (RGB) is a bit weird..
Raijintek makes RGB pipe fittings for liquid cooling tubes. Makes me sad for some reason.
@Ben T. As long as you have an option of not paying extra for something useless at a given price and performance level. Unlike a couple of years ago, when choosing a decent case was a challenge, as 99% of them were all about glass & rgb (and no airflow), not performance & cost-effectiveness.
Companies making a ton of subpar cheap crap BUT WITH RGB marketed for gamer who obviously has no clue about the hardware and charging ridiculous money for it and making this (milking) an industry trend surely did stigmatized RGB and its users.
dummy rgb "ram" sticks exist.
@Ben T. Well said.
Well darn. I’ve been dreaming of a lancool 215 build and wanting to stick with as many Lian Li parts as possible… But I guess now I know better. I certainly don’t want to have to tinker with power and fan settings, but I don’t want that whine either. So, thank you!
Me neither. I'm disappointed.
Really Appreciate the Awesome and Thorough Review! One thing that would have be Awesome to add, is after seeing the Pressure Map of the 2 Point mounting system on the AMD CPU's, It would have been Awesome to see the difference on how the Pressure map of a Intel CPU would have differed and how much of a difference there is from 2 point to 4 point :) Keep up the Awesome Content!
I actually appreciate the installation demo. I installed the Galahad 360 aio a week ago on my first PC build ever. I only had the included tube for paste so I attempted multiple dry runs (never fully tightened or anything, just enough to get it loosely secured) to find the easiest method before ending up at your version. (I have an x570 motherboard so did an am4 installation).
The pressure mapping was amazing! Running an Intel cpu myself with this cooler, I would have loved if you guys gave info on intel as well.
well 3950x outputs more heat than any intel so you can expect better results
Just bought one the 240 model of the galahad and decided to watch this. Had a miniature panic attack when I realized I had removed the plastic brackets to mount my current cooler. Hopped off this video and went scrambling to see if I had saved them. Sure enough I had put them in my mobo box... Now you have read about my epic journey. There were thrills, dangers, tears and triumph! Now go... tell of the great journey of Galahad 240!!!
"Cacophony of fan noise."
They should have put that on the box!
I have this AIO and had no problems with coil or pump whine. But if you have this and your temps are showing crazy spikes/dips check the mount/bracket - the spring loaded screws for the bracket are sort of not great, the edge of the spring can catch on the metal below, it won't go and the whole coldplate mounts crooked, it's a big pain. I know this is not a new cooler but I only learned this after messing with this thing for months because it's subtle and hard to notice, especially if you're new to this stuff like me
Why don't you make a custom mounting bracket to utilize the 4 points on the AM4 motherboard and see if it makes a difference performance wise versus the 2 point? Make a few and test several AIO's. Would make a really cool video because I'm curious using the h100i myself.
my favorite part of paying more for the lian li cooler is where they spared no expense screwing the aluminum trim straight through the face to the sides of the radiator... and that extra cheap mounting... really gives it that polished look... /s
would love to see the arctic liquid freezer ii 420 sometime in the future
I got the Galahad close to launch and while performance-wise I'm very happy with it, it has two aesthetic quirks that really annoy me:
1. The stickers on the fans aren't quite centred, so they appear to wiggle when the fan is spinning, especially at slower speeds.
2. The RGB LEDS don't quite match the Lian Li case fans I have for colour, especially in the blue range. If I set my case for all one colour, my Lian Li case fans even match my Asus mobo, but the Galahad fans are slightly off.
I don't get pump whine as an issue on my version BTW. The whole AIO is quite loud but I ran the fan optimizer that came with my mobo and it runs much more efficiently now.
I'm curious of how the Arctic Freezer II 240 does compared to its big brothers. I can't fit anything bigger than 240 atm, so I'm really interested in knowing how much worse/different the 240 is from the 280.
The EK 240 still holding up very well against the competition, which is fantastic as I got mine installed yesterday!
I literally just ordered Lian Li Uni Fans. They look awesome!
Running x9 Uni Fans. You're gonna love them
How much did you pay? I'm seeing them well over 100$ for 3 fans. Ugh
@@shortyorc121 msrp is 79, when they're in stock. You're likely seeing third party sellers
@@Kira-qc4qi yeah $80 is reasonable. Any website you recommend?
@@shortyorc121 afaik newegg is the only site getting regular shipments. You're gonna need to monitor the listing though because they'll sell out fast
Ooh, I hope one of the Scythe ones is the Fuma 2. I've been hoping to see you test that one. Thanks for putting in all this extra time with the Great Silicon Deluge of 2020!
9:32 "swap out the pre-installed Intel bracket"
What is an "Intel"?
a company that offers the best processor for gaming 15 years in a row before being edged out, only to resume the title the year after.
@@AbrahamLeanin LOL
Intel > amd.
Thankfully I had zero issues with my unit. Magnetic cap was present all the screws and no whine like described here. Definitely a QC thing. Mines pretty cherry!
Really? Even at 100% pump speed? I've seen a number of people on reddit post the same issue. I bet you it's a pretty bad QC thing. Either way, I get mine sometime this week. I will test it for myself. I personally find high pitched noises very annoying, and I will not keep the cooler if the pump overpowers the fans.
@ Personally I have had no issues with my Galahad unit. No whine at all. I have mounted to the top of my case with the motherboard below it for reference though. I personally think it's a beautiful unit.
That being said, like GN said, most AIOs of the same size bracket perform more or less the same and what sets them the most apart are the fans they come with. If your planning on using whatever fans you want like myself then I would suggest getting the one you think suites your RGB/Aesthetics needs as it will likely perform more or less the same as other models of similar sizes.
Recommendation: Pick the size radiator you need (240mm or 360mm) and pick the one you think looks best. Typically with radiators bigger = better, just make sure you install it correctly in its optimal position.
What about the Deepcool Captain 360X WH. I’ve seen it regularly below $100. It’d be nice to see some more coverage on it.
Liquid freezer II 360 was just €90 and a steal. I tried to buy the Galahad 360 black for €145 though since they look so nice, but could not be shipped (I was told after 7 weeks of waiting...), now I got it for €167. More than I liked to spend, but god it looks SO good!
Steve please consider the Castle EX 360, and the Enermax Liqmax 3.
I don't trust Enermax after that AIO that completely failed after a year..
@@santeenl mine hold ~6 years for now, but started making weird noises a few months again, so it will probably die in the future.
I was in the process of building a computer. Discovered your channel. Watched 15 of your videos. I now hate PCs. Thank you!. I got my life back.
Can we get a review of the Deepcool Castle EX in 280 and 360? Would be a good comparison against this LianLi 🙏
I have the Deepcool Castle EX in 280mm. It is equipped with the 'Intel' mounting for AMD, as well. I like this cooler. I previously had the Fractal, which has the 'cheaper' AMD mounting method.
Yes, @Gamers Nexus, please
RGB was only going to bump up my budget, plus it wasn't really needed for my upgrade..I read ur review and got the liquid freezer ii. Just waiting for the case to complete the build.
Thanks for taking ur time doing these reviews!!!
can you do Deepcool's 360ex/240ex castle next
I have a Deepcool 360ex. It's amazing. idle 32c Load 49-55 Zero pump whine. Quiet.
@ Ryzen 9 5950X for video editing and gaming.
I've been eyeing this cooler for a while for my predominantly white build. Good to see it's not just all looks, despite the pump whine noise.
Personally I like the no frills look of the Arctic Liquid Freezer 2, and bonus, I save power from no RGB :D
Was going to comment the same. The relatively blackout, clean cable management aesthetic lends itself to my preferences and fits in most theming styles.
I ended up buying this AIO after seeing this review for it and I've been using it now for about 6+ months and am very happy with it. I actually haven't experienced any pump whine that I can tell and that is with the pump speed maxed out. I run my fans around 1400 rpm and yeah it is noisy but that's something I don't mind and don't usually hear it while gaming. All in all for its price to performance I'd say its worth it if your looking based on that, plus the white aesthetic matches my case and components.
Those fingerprints on the b-roll :D
Holy shit. You guys made installing this cooler look like a cake walk. I struggled soooo much between installing it on my 3600, and again (albeit slightly less so) when swapping in my 5600X. I wish this review had come out 2 months ago.
So... is this the "Holy Grail" of AIO Water Coolers :P ?
Perhaps just a grail-shaped beacon? Bad, naughty Zoot!
Yey more Aio competition :)
Gotta love GN late night reviews!
Steve: "the metal cap isn't very useful, except for de branding the cooler" so it's useful for the exact thing it was designed to be useful for?? No freaking way I'm shocked. Lol
I grabbed a 360 shortly after they were released, as my NZXT Kraken died not long before.
It was a pain to install (Intel), but it is performing really well, i honestly can't say I ever noticed any pump whine though. The fans run around 780rpm most of the time, so they're not contributing much noise, while the pump hovers around 3350rpm, I genuinely can't hear anything unless i stop the fans altogether.
"Extreme silent." - Lian Li
Gotta love Engrish lol
@@iDreamOfWeenie Engrish make more better
I would love to see GN do a review of the MSI AIO's! Having the pump in the radiator is quite different from almost every other AIO on the market so it would be interesting to see if it alters performance or noise levels at all.
Deepcool Castle 360ex should be next
I put the 240 3 months ago on my son's computer. Awesome unit. Replaced a nzxt unit. Lowered the temps by 10 degrees
Was split between this and castle 360ex and went for the castle instead. Wonder how the castle stacked to this one.
How is the Castle working out for you? What are you idle and load temps?
Made a wrong choice buddy(I am not saying castle is bad but this is better than castle).
I bought one of these to match the Lian-Li PC-011 Dynamic case that I bought for my Ryzen 5000 build, and I'm impressed. I would buy another.
Galahad or Gallahad?
Ha, thanks. Can't believe no one corrected that before. Fixed.
@@GamersNexus Think we focus more on the tests and results than the spelling ...
@@countmorbid3187 Well, spelling can and will make a difference with technical terms and hardware parts.
@@countmorbid3187 item can't be found
Here in Canada, the EK AIOs are essentially non-existent, so the battle comes down to the Galahad vs. Liquid Freezer II family. The Liquid Freezer II 280 is perpetually out of stock (@ $169.99 CAD, or upwards of $240+ on Amazon), and the 240 costs $159.99 at the one retailer that actually has stock - exactly the same price as the Galahad 240, while on Amazon, the Liquid Freezer II 240 is actually $169.99, meaning the "budget/value" option actually costs MORE. The Liquid Freezer II 360 is listed at $189.99, $10 cheaper than the Galahad 360's $199.99 at retail, but again, the LFII is only available through that one retailer, and when stock shows up on Amazon, you can expect to pay well over $200.
I'd actually wanted to pick up a Liquid Freezer II, but the pricing up here and the fact that its thicker-than-standard radiator mean its case compatibility may be "iffy" kind of put the brakes on that purchase...
You've mentioned that you will have the be quiet! Pure Loop series reviewed in the future, and it seems like an interesting contender for Canadian buyers, since the 240/280/360 are priced rather fairly at $119.99, $134.99, and $154.99, respectively, and are actually widely in stock at one major retailer (www.canadacomputers.com/search/results_details.php?language=en&keywords=be+quiet%21+pure+loop). It's also one of the first AIOs I've heard of to explicitly advertise having a refilling port and an included bottle of coolant, so as long as the usable lifetime of the pump actually exceeds other brands' expected rate of failure due to coolant permeation, it could be one of the longer-lived AIOs on the market. It's also rather thin, at only 52 mm for the combined rad + fans, vs. 63 mm for Liquid Freezer II models using 120 mm fans, or 65mm for those using 140s, meaning it should have noticeably better case compatibility, especially clearance of the 8 pin EPS cables and their cutouts.
Edited to add: yes, the Galahad also has a coolant refilling port, and I'm sure it's probably fine to just top it up with a bit of distilled water down the road, but having manufacturer-supplied coolant mix for top-ups can still add some points in the "peace of mind" category.
'Hugs Arctic 280'. I paid so little for it too :)
Very happy with my abused 240 cooling cpu and gpu ... next mod back plate too.
7C lower than a NHD15, Still sticking with air. Never fails, easy, quick can run all day every day in workstations. No pump noise
AIO coolers are rather quick to install btw
@@kaneda4 did I say otherwise?
Last longer and risk free too. I mean air is more then enough. AIO is 100% overkill. Adds risk of failing and in worst case damaging your pc. Never worth it in my opinion.
@@ekipierrobert1989 Just because you cant afford something doesn't mean its bad
@@BeatstormX I didnt even talk about money once in my comment. I said overkill because air is enough to overclock and not thermal throttle. Thats the goal of a cpu cooler. AIO are not needed.
If only Lian Li would just take a moment and give a crap about their quality control.
Steve said they did most of this testing in august and they didn't go on sale until August 21st or so. Maybe they were early production units?
You would figure if you are sending a product to GN you would test it before shipping. That's just stupid not to.
Mine doesn't have pump whine and I hate the AM4 mounting solution. I do like the performance overall and the way it looks.
@@stephanhart9941 It's not just about these coolers. QC on their cases is also poor.
@@SuperHundog I was not aware. I have only bought one, the 011D and there is no problem but that is a relatively High end case. I'll have to take your word for it.
@@stephanhart9941 I also have an 011, Galahad 360 and x9 Uni Fans. 0 issues with QC. In fact, for the price brackets these products sit in, I think they're nothing short of exceptional.
@@Kira-qc4qi Yeah if you can get UniFans @MSRP they are great. I see the set of 3 being scalped for $150 or more. I had a bad experience with an etailer Rhodes electronics. Ordered 3 sets of WHITE Uni Fans with controllers. They sent 3 individual BLACK fans and took my $300. Thank God for PayPal. I had to dispute it and took a month to get refunded. A couple of emails and no phone service then they blew me off. I got 3 free black fans tho. So now I have 12. 6 on the Galahad in push pull 3 at the bottom and 3 at the top. The 3 black ones aren't visible just the rgb through the side vents. I side mounted it didn't like the top mount with push pull. No noise at all.
I installed the 240 Galahad in my new 3080/10900k build last month, and I wish this video had been out then to explain the wiring diagram. I think I spent a solid 45 minutes looking at that diagram trying to match everything.
I like your funny words, magic man.
The best way I find to explain decibels in terms of it not being linear, is every 10 dB is double perceived loudness (for humans). By the way, I’m a Hearing Specialist. ;)